All the market-moving Wall Street chatter from Friday
(This is CNBC Pro’s live coverage of Friday’s analyst calls and Wall Street chatter. Please refresh every 20-30 minutes to view the latest posts.) A casino operator and a PC maker were among the stocks being talked about by analysts on Friday. Deutsche Bank reinstated Dell Technologies as a buy, calling for nearly 14% upside. Meanwhile, Morgan Stanley upgraded Wynn Resorts to overweight from equal weight. Check out the latest calls and chatter below. All times ET. 7:36 a.m.: Citi says sell Dollar General Competition from Walmart could send shares of Dollar General lower, according to Citi. Analyst Paul Lejuez downgraded the stock to sell from neutral and decreased his price target by $18 to $73, which implies around 16% downside from Thursday’s close. He thinks the retailer is facing increasing competition from Walmart, whose market share gains will continue to put pressure on Dollar General and hinder its recovery. In essence, Lejuez said Dollar General’s competitive positioning has deteriorated despite increasing its number of U.S. stores to more than 20,000. “DG is known for value. So is WMT, and WMT is tough to beat on price,” the analyst wrote in a note to clients. “DG is known for convenience (easy in-and-out purchase). And increasingly since the pandemic, so is WMT, as the way consumers think about convenience is changing and WMT has upped its game with omni-channel delivery options.” Lejuez also forecasts Dollar General’s EBIT margins to remain between 4% and 5% over the next several years, with “no sign of a turnaround.” The stock has fallen more than 2% in Friday premarket trading. While shares have moved nearly 5% higher this month, they’ve plunged around 36% in 2024. — Sean Conlon 7:04 a.m.: Citi says Walmart remains a top pick, hikes price target Walmart is poised for more growth ahead, according to Citi. The investment bank reiterated its buy rating on the name and increased its price target by $23 to $98, implying more than 22% upside, as of Thursday’s close. With the company having a “strong” back-to-school season, analyst Paul Lejuez believes it’s well positioned in the near term, expecting momentum to continue into the holidays. In the long term, the analyst points to many higher-margin growth opportunities. “On top of their leading share in food/grocery, WMT is in the early innings of developing several high-margin growth businesses, including marketplace, fulfillment services, data services and advertising,” the analyst said in a note. “These businesses help drive a virtuous circle that make it hard for many competitors to keep up longer term.” Shares of the retailer have soared this year, gaining around 52%. — Sean Conlon 6:46 a.m.: Piper Sandler upgrades Accenture Piper Sandler is taking a more bullish stance on Accenture . The firm upgraded the stock to overweight from neutral and raised its price target by $66 to $395. That implies around 11% upside from Thursday’s close. Analyst Arvind Ramnani think Accenture is positioned to benefit from projects related to generative artificial intelligence, even though the work is “still in the early innings.” “GenAI continues to pull through AI readiness work as clients prepare their infrastructure to take advantage of the new technology (migrating to cloud, … developing security layers, etc.),” he said in a note to clients. “We note that Accenture has grown its data & AI workforce to 57k employees (goal of 80k exiting FY26), and we expect that once we start to see larger GenAI projects, it will constitute a more meaningful part of overall bookings.” Looking ahead, Ramnani said the company’s full-year 2025 forecast is conservative, given its backlog of work and signs of an improving budgetary environment. The stock has risen more than 17% in the past three months. ACN 3M mountain 2024-08-30 ACN 3-month chart — Sean Conlon 6:14 a.m.: KeyBanc is stepping away from Bumble, says challenges are ‘not quick fixes’ KeyBanc Capital Markets sees trouble ahead for Bumble . The firm downgraded the dating app to sector weight from overweight, with analyst Justin Patterson citing “weak” app store data. Not only that, the brand’s recent relaunch undercuts its “core differentiator,” he said. “Bumble’s new Opening Moves feature allows women to select a question that prompts other users to make the first move,” the analyst said in a note. “This disrupts Bumble’s distinguishing feature of having women make the first move after a match.” With these, Patterson sees the risk to 2025 estimates as “elevated.” Specifically, he believes that consensus forecasts signaling a return to growth by the third quarter of next year could be “overly optimistic.” “Bumble’s challenges are not quick fixes, and we suspect it will take time to stabilize the business,” he continued. The stock slipped more than 2% in premarket trading on Friday. This year, it has underperformed the broader market, falling more than 56%. BMBL YTD mountain BMBL year to date — Sean Conlon 5:49 a.m.: Morgan Stanley upgrades Wynn Resorts A few key catalysts could send shares of Wynn Resorts higher, according to Morgan Stanley. The investment bank upgraded the stock to overweight from equal weight and hiked its price target by $7 to $104, which implies more than 14% upside from Thursday’s close. Analyst Stephen Grambling thinks the casino operator has an “attractive” risk-reward profile and sees its Las Vegas assets as more stable than its peers. He pointed to greater capital reinvestment into Wynn’s properties in the last five years compared to MGM Resorts and Caesars Entertainment. “We believe WYNN’s continued investment, proximity to recently added attractions, and high-end brand will all support more resilient fundamentals vs. the market,” the analyst wrote in a note to clients. Grambling also said the more details surrounding the company’s UAE project at its upcoming analyst event could drive the stock higher, saying the opportunity is “not appropriately valued” at current trading levels. He also cited a focus on capital returns as another catalyst. While shares have moved marginally lower year to date, they’ve surged more than 18% this month. WYNN mountain 2024-08-30 WYNN month to date — Sean Conlon 5:49 a.m.: Deutsche Bank reinstates Dell Technologies as buy The stars are aligning for Dell Technologies , according to Deutsche Bank. Analyst Matt Niknam resumed coverage of the PC maker with a buy rating and a price target of $144, which implies upside of nearly 14%. “We expect top-line growth to accelerate into the double-digits over the next several quarters, as DELL benefits from a confluence of tailwinds across key segments, where it is a share leader (servers, storage and commercial PCs),” Niknam wrote. “We believe DELL is well positioned to capitalize on the next legs of AI growth/proliferation across enterprises, given its product scale, breadth of services/solutions and go to market footprint,” the analyst added. Dell shares have been on fire this year, rising 65.4%. DELL YTD mountain DELL year to date — Fred Imbert
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